Hair Styling Apparatus

ABSTRACT

A hair styling apparatus comprising a handle and a hair styling member with a transparent window. The transparent window has substantially transparent electric heating substances which are distributed along the hair styling member.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to hair apparatus and, more particularly, to hair styling apparatus with heating means such as hair dryers, hair straighteners and hair curlers. More specifically, although not solely limited thereto, this invention relates to handheld hair styling apparatus with heating means.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Hair apparatus, for example, hair styling apparatus, usually comprises electric heating means for quicker and longer-term hair styling effects. Resistive heating elements, such as electric heating coils, are commonly used as heating means in conventional hair styling apparatus. However, conventional resistive heating means are known to be bulky, unsightly and have a relatively low power efficiency. For example, conventional coil heating elements occupy almost the entire internal barrel cavity of a hair blower or hair dryer, leaving very little space for other components, such as, for example, ionizers, sensors, displays circuits or infra-red source. For other handheld hair styling apparatus, for example, hair straighteners and hair curlers, electric heating means are enclosed within an opaque housing and the generated heat is transmitted to the external hair contact styling surface by conduction and/or convection. Similarly, the electric heating elements are unsightly and occupy the bulk of the cavity enclosed by the contact hair styling surface. In addition, heat-loss during transit to the contact styling surface is significant. Furthermore, conventional electric heating elements are non-directional so that heat is generated and disseminated in all directions which means that heat not transmitted to the useful hair styling surface is lost, resulting in a low thermal efficiency as well as causing adverse heating of the non-hair contact surfaces.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide hair apparatus with improved electric heating means. At a minimum, it is an object of this invention to provide the public with a choice of hair styling apparatus with alternative heating means.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to this invention, there is provided a hair styling apparatus comprising a handle and a hair styling member with a transparent window, the transparent window comprises substantially transparent electric heating substances which are distributed along said styling member. A hair styling apparatus with a heated transparent window confers enhanced design flexibility as well as freeing sup space for other useful applications. More particularly, a hair styling apparatus with a hair contact surface, the hair contact surface comprises electric heating means contiguously distributed along the hair contact surface is provided.

According to another aspect of this invention, there is provided a hair styling apparatus which comprises an air blower and a transparent barrel, the transparent electrical heating substances are distributed along the barrel so that air passage through the barrel is heated by the distributed electrical heating substances. With distributed heating substances on the barrel, more even heating will result and less barrel cavity will be occupied by heating elements.

According to a preferred embodiment of this invention, there is provided a hair styling apparatus comprising at least a hair styling member with a substantially transparent window coated with a substantially transparent electric heating substances.

With a hair styling member comprising a substantially transparent window coated with a transparent heating substance such as transparent conductive oxides on glass, the styling head of a hair styling apparatus can be transparent so that the internal cavity of the a barrel of such a hair styling apparatus can be utilized for other useful purposes.

In a first preferred example of this invention, this is provided a hair styling apparatus in the form of a handheld apparatus such as a hair curler and/or a hair straightener. The hair styling apparatus comprises a handle and a front tubular portion with a contact styling surface for contact styling of hair, said transparent window of said styling member being for contact styling of hair, said substantially transparent electric heating substance being coated underneath the hair contact surface of said transparent window so that the non-coated surface of said transparent window is in contact with hair and said window is intermediate the electric heating substance and the hair.

With this coated layer of heating substances on the transparent window, additional styling components, such as ionizers and/or infrared heated light bulbs as well as other useful indicia including signs and logos, can be disposed within the transparent tubular member to enhance the utility as well as the aesthetic appearance of the device. In addition, other useful applications such as temperature sensor, control, monitoring and displays can be accommodated.

Preferably, said transparent window is made of high-temperature glass and/or high-temperature clear plastics, said substantially transparent electric heating substance is a semi-conductive heating substance such as a composition comprising Tin Oxide.

Preferably, said transparent window of said hair styling member comprising an elongated tubular member with said substantially transparent electric heating substance coated along the inside surface of said tubular member.

Preferably, said hair styling member being configured for hair straightening or hair curling.

Preferably, said hair styling member being configured for hair straightening or hair curling.

Preferably, the non-coated surface of said transparent window is for styling contact with hair and said window is intermediate the electric heating substance and the hair.

Preferably, contact electrodes are printed or coated on said substantially transparent window for making external electric contact.

Preferably, said elongated tubular member having a flat contact surface for hair straightening.

In another preferred example of this invention, the hair styling apparatus is a hair dryer and/or hair boiler, wherein said hair styling member being the barrel of a hair blower, said substantially transparent window comprising an upstream end for receiving forced air entry and a downstream end for forced air output, said electrical heating substance being coated intermediate said upstream and downstream ends.

Preferably, said electric heating substances are integrally moulded with said hair styling member.

Preferably, said electric heating substances are mixed within said transparent window.

Preferably, the transparent window comprises nano-silver.

Preferably, a nano-silver layer is coated on the transparent window.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be explained in further detail below by way of examples and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:—

FIG. 1 is a side view of a first preferred embodiment of a hair styling apparatus of this invention,

FIG. 1A is a longitudinal cross section of the apparatus of FIG. 1,

FIG. 1B is a transverse cross sectional view of the apparatus at sectional A-A.

FIG. 2A is a longitudinal view showing a hair styling member of a hair straightener illustrating a second preferred embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 2B is a side view of the styling member of FIG. 2A,

FIG. 3A shows a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a third preferred embodiment of a hair styling apparatus in the form of a hair dryer,

FIG. 3B shows a rear view of the hair dryer of FIG. 3A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring firstly to FIG. 1 to FIG. 1B, there is shown a hair curler 100 as a first preferred example of the present invention. The hair curler 100 comprises a handle 20 and a styling member 30. The handle is intermediate the hair styling member and an electric cord for obtaining operating power. An on/off switch 21 is disposed on the handle and comprises a sliding switch 22 which is accessible from the outside of the handle for turning on or off power supply to the electric heating means. An indicator 23, such as a LED indicator, is disposed on the handle so that operating states of the hair curler can be shown. The hair styling member 30 comprises a tubular member 31 which defines a contact hair styling surface 32. A pivotable clamping arm comprising a hair clamping surface 33 and a pivotable arm 34 is provided at near the middle portion of the apparatus. The length of the hair clamping surface 33 is similar to the longitudinal length of the contact hair styling surface 32 and substantially follows the shape and configuration, especially the curvature, of the contact hair styling surface 32. The pivotable arm 34 is under spring bias so that the hair clamping surface can be moved between a position for compressively engaging tresses of hair and a releasing position when hair can be released.

The hair styling member comprises a transparent tubular member with electric heating substances 35 distributedly coated on the contact hair styling surface. The heating substance can be coated at regions corresponding to the hair clamping member. By coating a substantially transparent electric heating substances on selected portions of the hair styling member 30, only the selected portions of the hair contact surface, for example, that correspond to the hair clamping member, will be effectively heated and the portion of the transparent tubular member which is not coated with the heating substances will not be directly heated so that risks of inadvertent harm to the scalp or other parts of a user can be alleviated. As the cavity of the hair styling member is no longer occupied by bulky resistive heating coils, the internal cavity of the hair styling member can be reserved for other useful purposes, such as, for example, infra-red heaters, ultra-violet sources and/or visual displays.

As a convenient example, a tubular glass member is first formed into a desirable shape and then deposited with the electric heating substances to form the hair styling member. The coating is applied to the underside of the hair styling surface, as shown in FIG. 1A, to avoid direct contact of the heating substances with hair. Optionally, heating substances can be coated circumferentially around the underside of the hair styling member 30 to provide uniformed heating across the circumference of the hair styling member.

Turning now to the transparent hair styling member, the transparent hair styling member comprises a tubular glass member which can sustain high temperature required for good hair styling effect. High temperature tempered glass suitable for high temperature application, for example, for operation between 150° C.-250° C., would be suitable. To enable the glass member to be self-heating, a layer of electrically conductive heating substances is coated on the appropriate area on the hair styling member. Optionally, heating substances can be integrally formed with the tubular glass member, for example, at the time of glass moulding for enhanced uniformity and durability. An example or suitable substances to be applied to the internal surface is the use of transparent thin-film conductor or semi-conductor. Certain metal oxides, more commonly known as “Transparent Conductive Oxides” (TCOs) are typical examples of such substances. Fluorine-doped Tin Oxide (SnO1:F), Indium-Tin Oxide (IT), and thin stacks of oxides and metallic silver are examples of commonly known substances that can be applied onto a transparent surface such as a glass surface. Among the various TCOs, tin oxide (ITO) is perhaps most suitable for hair appliances. The deposition of tin oxide on a transparent substrate is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,798,142 to Soubeyrand and the teaching of that patent is fully incorporated herein by reference. For example, a layer of tin oxide of a sufficient thickness to provide an appropriate resistance per square (Ω/sq) could be deposited on the inner surface of the tubular member by chemical vapour deposition (CVP) as is well known in the art. By depositing a layer of tin oxide with a sufficient resistance, the TCO can be heated to a temperature suitable for hair styling, for example, in the region of 150° C. to 250° C. Optionally, tin oxide can be moulded at selected regions of the contact styling surface to form designated heating regions.

In order to provide contacts to the power supply, contact electrodes, more commonly referred to as “bus bars”, are formed on the coated conductive oxide layer for external wiring connection. More commonly, a wire or clip is soldered and/or brazed to the bus bar and the bus bar is commonly made of copper, silver or other low resistivity metal. By selectively coating the TCOs on the region of the hair styling member which will be in effective contact with the hair clamping surface of the hair clamping member, a distributed heating source uniformly disposed along the hair styling member is formed and a higher thermal efficiency is achieved as the heating substance is in factual proximity with the styling surface so that heat loss due to conduction or convection will be alleviated. At the same time, the transparent cavity of the hair styling member can be reserved for other useful purposes.

A hair straightening member of a pair of hair straightening members of a hair straightener 200 is illustrated in FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B as a second preferred embodiment of this invention. Similar to the hair styling apparatus of FIG. 1, the hair styling member comprises a handle (not shown) and a pair of hair straightening members which can be configured into the fully closed and the fully opened positions respectively for hair styling and hair releasing. Except for the hair styling member, the hair straightener can be of conventional construction and comprises a pair of pivotable hair straightening members. Unlike hair straightening members of a conventional hair straightener, each of the hair straightening member comprises a tubular hair styling member 230 with a substantially flat hair styling window 232 so that tresses of hair engaged between the pair of substantially flat and transparent styling windows can be straightened by the flat window when heated by the electric heating means. Similar to the electric heating means of the first preferred embodiment of FIG. 1 above, the contact hair styling surface, which is the hair straightening window of the present embodiment, comprises a layer or layers (235) of TCOs coated underneath the window so that the heat generated by the TCO layer can be more efficiently transmitted to the contact hair styling surface. For optimal thermal efficiency, the other parts of the hair styling member are not coated with the heat generating electric conductive substances. Naturally, the entire hair styling member can be a transparent tubular member made, for example, of a high temperature tempered glass, so that the transparent cavity can be utilized for other useful purposes such as the inclusion of a product logo 240 as shown in FIG. 2B. Similarly, contact electrodes 241 are formed near one end of the transparent window for wired connection to the power supply.

A hair dryer or a hair blower 300 comprising a handle 320 and a hair styling member 330 in the form of a barrel are shown as a third preferred embodiment of the present invention. Similar to a conventional hair dryer, the hair dryer 300 comprises a motored fan which moves air from the upstream end of the barrel to its downstream end 340. Unlike a conventional hair dryer, a substantial portion of the downstream and of the barrel is transparent and comprises a transparent tubular member made of a high temperature tempered glass coated or applied with TCO 331 so that a substantially transparent barrel portion can be formed and the cavity defined by that portion of the barrel can be reserved for other useful purposes. The transparent barrel of the hair dryer is applied with transparent electrical heating substances in a similar manner so that air flowing through the barrel is heated by the heated barrel due to the distribution of heating substance along the length and, internal surfaces of barrel. Application of transparent electrical substances to the barrel is mutatis mutandis to that of the hair contact member above, although the distributed heated substances are for heating air, rather than contact heating of hair.

In order to provide an additional potential divider for a low-voltage DC motor, a set of voltage dividing coils are still disposed, albeit only near the upstream and of the barrel and occupies a relatively minor space. Similar to the other preferred embodiment, other useful utilities, such as infra-red source, UV source, logos can be disposed within the transparent portion of the barrel for useful applications.

In addition, nano-silver can be applied to the above hair styling apparatus for anti-bacteria effects. For example, nano-silver can be applied to the hair styling members 30, 230 and 330, for example, at the hair contact surface 32 of the hair styling member or the transparent barrel of the hair dryer 300. In addition, nano-silver can be applied to other parts, such as, e.g. handles, for example, by coating or by mixing with the hair styling member during formation.

While the present invention has been explained by reference to the examples or preferred embodiments described above, it will be appreciated that those are examples to assist understanding of the present invention and are not meant to be restrictive. The scope of this invention should be determined and/or inferred from the preferred embodiments described above and with reference to the Figures where appropriate or when the context requires. In particular, variations or modifications which are obvious or trivial to persons skilled in the art, as well as improvements made thereon, should be considered as falling within the scope and boundary of the present invention.

Furthermore, while the present invention has been explained by reference to the specific hair styling apparatus, it should be appreciated that the invention can apply, whether with or without modification, to other hair styling apparatus without loss of generality. 

1. A hair styling apparatus comprising a handle and a hair styling member with a transparent window, the transparent window comprises substantially transparent electric heating substances which are distributed along said hair styling member.
 2. A hair styling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said transparent window of said styling member is for heated styling of hair, said substantially transparent electric heating substance being coated underneath the surface of said transparent window.
 3. A hair styling apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said transparent window is made of high-temperature glass and/or high-temperature clear plastics, said substantially transparent electric heating substance is a semi-conductive heating substance such as a composition comprising Tin Oxide.
 4. A hair styling apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said transparent window of said hair styling member comprising an elongated tubular member with said substantially transparent electric heating substance coated along the inside surface of said tubular member.
 5. A hair styling apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said hair styling member being configured for hair straightening or hair curling.
 6. A hair styling apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the non-coated surface of said transparent window is for styling contact with hair and said window is intermediate the electric heating substance and the hair.
 7. A hair styling apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising an air blower, said transparent window forms a barrel and air flows from said air blower is heated by said transparent window.
 8. A hair styling apparatus according to claim 4, wherein contact electrodes are printed or coated on said substantially transparent window for making external electric contact.
 9. A hair styling apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said elongated tubular member having a flat contact surface for hair straightening.
 10. A hair styling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said hair styling member being the barrel of a hair blower, said substantially transparent window comprising an upstream end for receiving forced air entry and a downstream end for forced air output, said electrical heating substance being coated intermediate said upstream and downstream ends.
 11. A hair styling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said electric heating substances are integrally moulded with said hair styling member.
 12. A hair styling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said electric heating substances are mixed within said transparent window.
 13. A hair styling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein visual indicia being formed on said transparent window.
 14. A hair styling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transparent window comprises nano-silver.
 15. A hair styling apparatus according to claim 14, wherein a nano-silver layer is coated on the transparent window. 